Code Geass: Arthur of the Rounds
by CaioOP1985
Summary: 1200 years before Lucian starts his Rebellion, the flames of war claim Europe as the Franks of Charlemagne and the Barbarians destroy tear the great nation that used to be Britannia and a war between the Lords makes a union impossible. Meet a new hero as he rises and save us all from the complete destruction.


**Prologue:**

**The Age of Darkness**

**830 A.T.B, December 2nd**

The Warrior enters the hall of his castle looking for a goblet of wine after the battle. Another group of those burglars appeared in the woods and it was his duty as the Lord of Cornwall to protect his servants from those bastards. He lost three of his men in the fight, one of them being his old comrade from his time as a squire, Sir Gandrel.

The Lord sits in the great desk and glares at the great dining hall of his fortress, a large place with the standards of his house, the Pendragon, a noble house who holds the blood of the Celtic King Eowyn, founder of the great Britannian Empire.

The Lord laughs at the image of the great King, imagining how he would react if he were to find out that his great nation is now divided between his many descendants and at the mercy of barbarians from the north and from the Franks from the continent. Instead of uniting all their armies, the lords prefer to fight against each other and destroy the rest of the crops that are remaining.

So far, the Franks have avoided his lands, but for how long? Soon they would set sail and travel to Cornwall and Charlemagne would get his hands on the Cornwall. According to what the scouts have reported, his forces have already attacked the Island of Wight and taken almost all the southeast of the country. As for the north, the barbarians have entered in large portions of territory and not even the Hadrian's Wall can stop them.

He demands more beverages as he starts to feel the effects of the alcohol in his body, relaxing him and getting his worries away. He imagines what kind of world he is leaving for his son who is almost bourn. Many people have asked him how he knows that it will be a boy and he just laughs, stating that it is because he just knows.

Seven months and his wife is already big enough to stop a whole brigade of men just with his belly. This time he will get out of her alive, he must do it or the lands will pass to his newborn nephew, Gawain, but the Warrior knows, deep in his heart, that the child will be strong this time, unlike his two older brothers.

They have already decided what will be the child's name, a name chosen to influence the boy on the way that he will rein. The Father has prayed to God for the life of his child more than one time and now he hopes for the best.

As the Lord weighs these dark thoughts, a young boy enters the silent hall running in his direction, with the noise of each step resonating in the ancient walls around. He only stops when he is finally in front of the Lord, showing a face covered in fear and apprehension.

"My lord… something…"

"What happened?" The Warrior gets nervous with the presence of the boy.

"Lady Igraine… she…" Without letting the boy finish his sentence, the Lord gets up and runs to the vast room where he and his wife share their nights.

He enters inside a large room in the top of the main tower of the castle, a place where she spent almost all his nights since his brother died and he received his lordship. There is a great fireplace in the wall facing the bed and there is a large fire in there at the moment, giving the room a warm temperature, but right at this moment there is just one thing that the Lord cares about: his wife.

She is lying down at the great bed made of oak with the midwives around her, running like cockroaches. He gets one of them out of his way and he is finally able to see the face of the love of his life. Her red hair usually is full of life, but now they have no life remaining. Her eyes are from a vivid blue, but they seem without glow and she looks weak.

"You… came…"

"Of course I would come!" He grabs the hand at the side of her body and he gets scared when he notices how cold it is.

"The baby… he wants to get out before… the time…"

"Don't worry! Nothing will happen to our son, I promise!"

She screams and he notices that the bed is full of blood and it is the time for one of the midwives to push him away, putting him out of the room. HE punches one of the walls outside the room, feeling how powerless he is to help the woman of his life. Suddenly he fears not just for the life of his child, but for his woman as well.

He is a man in despair as she starts to feel the hot tears making a way in his face, without any way to save her from what looks a certain death. Suddenly he remembers something that the servants have been speaking about some time ago: a man capable of creating miracles, a wizard of gigantic power.

Never before in his life had the man believed in such things as magic, but now he is desperate enough to try anything to save those he loves. He goes to the room where a special girls sleeps, the person who might guide him to that wizard. He practically punches the door and soon the servant responsible for taking care of her appears.

"We are in the middle of the night…"

"I have no time for this, woman!" He pushes her away and enters the room where a twelve years old girl is taking a bath. "Stop covering with your hands and get something to dress! I need you to show me the Wizard!"

The girls looks scared, but she goes to get a dress with the help of the servant. She is the daughter of her wife from her last marriage and she has the same red hair as her mother. The Lord couldn't stop his eyes before noticing that the girl is also red between her legs as the first signals of hair appears.

"W-what do you want w-w-with him, Sir?"

"I want him to save your mother, your stupid woman! Now show me this Wizard and I sure hope he has magic powers, or he will wish that he had!"

She goes in front of him, practically running, to the outside of the fortress and to the stalls where they got themselves three horses. Even at such a young age, she is able to control pretty well her horse and guide the man to the Wizard's house.

He knocks the door brutally and soon the so-called Wizard appears before him and he sees the man for the first time: short black hair, taller than him, purple eyes and a thin physiognomy. He is dressed with something similar to what a druid would dress, but his clothes are black instead of white.

"Lord Uther! What a great surprise!"

"I need…"

"Me to save your wife, I know." The Lord almost has a heart attack. "I already have everything prepared here to save her."

"How did you…?"

"How lovely! You have brought me a horse! I am afraid that my old donkey wouldn't be able to go as far as the castle. But enough talk, we must go to the castle before Lady Igraine collapses, am I right?"

Few men were able to get Uther Pendragon speechless, but this strange wizard was able to do such a thing and he starts to go to the horse prepared for him, smiling to the little girl at the top of one of them.

"Hello little Morgana! So it was you the one who showed him where my modest house was? Wonderful!" He gets at the top at the horse and he is about to go when he looks back to Uther. "You know, it will be a lot harder to convince the guards and those women guarding your wife to let me treat her without you."

It is just then that Uther notices that he has not moved since the other man closed the door behind him. Getting at the top of his horse, he guides the group back to the castle and to her beloved Igraine. When the group gets inside, the future mother is worst then in the last time Uther saw her. She is as pale as milk, making a lovely contrast with her red hair, but she is far too weak to do anything else more than to smile.

"My… Lord…"

"My dear Igraine! I have brought to you a person, who will save you and our child, so…"

"I am afraid that… it is… too late for that…"

"What?"

"Looks like… I am not able to… give you… your son…"

"Do not say that!"

"I am sorry… but this is the end for me…" She looks at her beloved daughter. "Morgana… be a good girl for… your father…"

The girls cries and tries to go to her mother, but the Wizard holds her strongly while Uther holds her hair softly as the life leaves her beautiful eyes and she goes to the realm of God. He looks at the side and he sees a tiny thing enveloped in a white sheet and the man scream in rage as he starts to destroy everything in the room. All the women get out and the only one who remains is Merlin, who is smiling sarcastically.

"Your devil!" The Warrior grabs his sword and tries to hit him, but the Wizard just touches his blade and it becomes dust. "How…"

"I can bring your wife and your son back for you, but there wioll be a price. A price of blood."

"But how would you…"

"You would not understand, so just give me exactly what I ask and tomorrow you will have them back."

Uther is desperate and will do anything to make sure that his family were to survive. He nods to the other man, agreeing with the terrible price, whatever it is.

* * *

The body of Igraine was involved with a white cloth and put in the middle of a desk in the greatest dungeon of the castle, as well as the body of the child. Around them the men Uther captured earlier were put in a circle and chained to the walls. The Wizard smiles at how quickly a man in love is capable of getting things ready.

This will be enough?" Uther asks him.

"One for the woman and seven for the boy. Yes, this will suffice."

"But why the child…?"

"Do not ask me and leave this place so I can start the ritual and soon you will have your loved ones back."

Uther leaves the room with a weight in his chest, unaware of the dark rituals that will take place in that dungeon this day, but his instincts tell him that they are wrong and God will have a punishment for him when he gets to the other world. None of this matters as long as he gets them back.

Right after the door is locked, the Wizard looks at the prisoners around him and smile, thinking about what he is about to do to make sure that the future is assured. He goes to one of the men and he notices that he lost an ear in the conflict.

"Rest assured, as you are about to serve to a higher purpose." He says as he puts his right hand at the man's chest. "The pain will soon fade away and you will rest in peace."

His eyes glow as two bird sigils appear on them and his hand enters the man's chest, like the Wizard had put his hand on water. The rest of them enter in despair and try to get away as the one with the hand inside him starts to get older and older and to scream like he was on fire. When the Wizard gets his hand out of him, he is holding a blue sphere who glows just like the most pure diamond and the man goes to the floor, looking like a body with a thousand years.

"See? It was pretty fast, wasn't it?" The Wizard goes to the body of the woman and he inserts the orb inside her and sometime after, her chest start to move once more and the man checks and sees her face getting less pale. "Well, now we need to do the same with this child."

* * *

The whole town is celebrating the birth of the son of Lord Uther Pendragon, the little Arthur Pendragon! Every servant, guard, farmer and person is celebrating right now as the Lord and his family ride to show the infant. Together with them is the Wizard, dressed in fine clothes and in a pure-blooded horse.

In the center of the town, a enormous desk was built to serve a feast to those who have joined the happy family. After some time of happiness, the Wizard decides to get closer to Uther to talk to him about something.

"Tell me, what do you think about a child chained and deprived of food and water for several days?"

"I don't want to talk about…"

"Just tell me, my Lord."

"Well… I would decapitate those responsible for such an act."

"Then you should go to that little carriage carrying hay and see for yourself."

Uther is acetic at the beginning, but then he remembers what that man did and decides to apprehend the owner of the carriage and to look inside it, only to almost vomit his food when that thing is opened. Inside the thing several goats were chained and the smell of their shits goes openly in the air. But the most shocking fact is the tiny human trying to hide behind one of the goats.

"What is the meaning of this barbarity?" Uther is crazy with anger when he looks at the men who were conducting the carriage. "Explain yourselves!"

"M-m-m-my L-l-lo-lord… We…" One of them is shaking wildly.

"They were going to sell the child and the rest of the people in the other carriages to the people of the north as slaves." The Wizard tells Uther.

In an access of rage, Uther gets his sword ready and commands his men to grab the slave merchants and he gives them a punishment away from the eyes of the celebration. After an order to free the people in chains, he sees the Wizard carrying the boy that they saw first.

"Well this solves everything, right?" He smiles to the little boy, who is so covered in dirty that you cannot see the color of his hair. "With your permission, I would like to stay with this little one."

"What about his family?"

"He has none and he never met them."

"DO you have any…"

"He is from a distant land from the East, practically at the end of all land in Asia."

"And how did…?"

"He arrived here? Well, this is a tale for another day." He smiles at the boy, who is scared of everything. "I will take care of you."

They both leave the place and Uther starts to wonder why he would like a child, unless… a tremor goes through his body as he imagines the fate of the little one.

* * *

"And… now we are clean, right?" The Wizard smiles at the boy. "Now, I know that you barely know my language, but I will teach you everything you will need in your life."

"W-why…?" The naked youngling before him asks.

"Because you have a role in a much larger scheme. To do that, you will need a name."

"N-name…?"

He has two blue eyes and a brown hair and now that he is cleaned and the Wizard soaked, he looks pretty hungry and tired. The Wizard thinks about it for some time and finally he decides for a name.

"For now on, you will be known as Lancelot, young boy."

"Lancelot…?"

"That is your name, young man." He says.

"Why…?"

"Because you will serve Arthur in the years to come and will fight at his side, no matter what happens, understand?"

"I…"

"Good! We start your education in three days."

"Who…"

"Oh, you want to know my name, young boy?" He smiles to the boy, like he is about to tell a pretty funny joke. "My name is Merlin, the Warlock."

"Merlin…?"

"And now it begins…" Merlin looks away from the boy and glare at the blue sky. "The Age of Darkness."


End file.
